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Patented June 3, 1924.

UN STA T? E3 PATENT oFFicE.

EDGAR M. S ORENG, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNO B TO BRIGGS &STRATTON COMPANY, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

noon HANDLE;

Application filed April 6,

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l EDGAR M. Somme, a citizen of the United States. andresident of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State ofWisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Door Handles, ofwhich the following is a description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings which are a part of this specification.

This invention has for its object to provide a coach-door handle,particularly de-' signed for use on higher grade automobiles, butcapable of various other uses.

One object of the invention is to provide the ornamental color finishfor the handle in the form of a thin metal inlay which may be readilyprovided with the desired finish and then permanently inserted in therecess of the handle face without marring the finish and thus avoid thenecessity for the usual long and tedious operation of building up acolor finish by means of var nishes and colors applied directly to therecess.

Another object of the invention is to simplify the construction of thehandle and particularly in the manner of its attachment to the base fortaking the pull stress.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists in thedoor handle and the method of ornamenting it as herein claimed and allequivalents.

Referring to the accompanying drawings in which like characters ofreference indicate the same parts in different views,

Figure 1 is a central sectional View of a door handle constructed inaccordance with this invention; 7

Fig. 2 is a front view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a rear view thereof, the extreme position of the handle onbeing turned shown in dotted lines;

Figs. 4 and 5, and Figs. 6 and 7 are longitudinal and transversesectional views of the handle member showing the finished plate beforeand after it is forced into place;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view through the base showing the engagement ofthe handle member therewith, and

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the base.

In these drawings 10 indicates the usual square shank uponwhich thehandle member 11 is die-cast or otherwise secured. The reduced stem ofthe handle member is rotatably mounted in the base 12, which is se-1922. Serial No. 550,136.

cured to the front of the door by screws passing through screw-holes 18as usual, but instead of a thrust ring detachably clamped on the handleengaging the back of the base plate, the handle is provided withopposite lugs 14 properly spaced from its thrust shoulder 15 for thebase plate to neatly fit therebetween, as is shown in Fig. 8. The shapeof the opening in the base plate 12 is such that these lugs 14 maypasstherethrough freely when the handle is in a position at right anglesto its normal position. The handle, however, is incapable of moving tothis position after it is mounted in the door because of stop mechanismin the latch itself, which is not shown but which is of usualconstruction. At most the handle may be moved to the angle shown bydotted lines in Fig. 3,which isinsuiticient to permit of the withdrawalof the lugs 14 from the recesses of the opening through which they passin assembling the handle and baseplate. It will thus be seen that whenthe.

handle and base-plate are assembled and the handle is insertedin'thelatch it only requires the turning of the base-plate-to its properposition and the placing of the attaching screws through the openings 13to securely-lock the handle against removal and the end thrust of thehandle will be taken by the shoulder 15 bearing against the front of thebase-plate while the pull thrust will be taken by the lugs 14 bearingagainst thewith repeated applications of coach varnish I and color withrubbing. much in the same manner as the finish of the body itself, andobviously requires a great deal of time and careful hand work.

With the present invention a neater appearance is obtained and a greatsaving made in the time and cost of manufacture by applying this colorfinish in the form of an inlay of sheet metal, preferably brass,

which has had the finish applied to it while separate either as anindividual piece or when joined with others to form a strip or sheet forconvenience in the finishing operation. The finish may be applied to theseparate inlay strip Without materially delaying the manufacture of thehandles and at a much lower cost than when it is worked into the recessof the handle itself.

As shown, the inlay strip 16 having the finish 17 applied to its face isslightly bowed or convexed both longitudinally and transversely and insuch shape it is of a size to just fit within the recess 18 of thehandle face. When so fitted pressure is applied thereto to force it tolie flat against the flat bottom of the recess and, in so doing, theedges of the insert strip are forced into the metal forming the edges ofthe recess and, as the material of which the strip is made is notresilient, it retains its flattened shape and remains securely embeddedaround its entire edge within the walls of the recess so as to bepermanently united therewith. This operation may be performed withoutmar-ring or in any way injuring the finish on the strip. Other metalsmay be adapted for this purpose, so I do not confine myself to the useof brass for the inlay strip, nor to the use of a die-casting for thehandle member, though in practice these are found highly suitable forthe purpose.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A metal door handle having a recess in its face, and a means forgiving a color finish to the door handle consisting of a metal platehaving a color finish thereon and fitting within the recess with itsedges embedded in the walls of the recess.

2-. The method of providing metal doorhandles with a color finish whichconsists in providing the door-handle with a recess in its face, fittingan arched or bowed color finished plate within said recess, and thenforcing the plate to a flattened condition causing its edges to becomeembedded in the walls of the recess.

3. The method of providing elongated metal door-handles with a colorfinish which consists in forming a recess in the face of the door-handlein the desired location of the color finish, providing a color finish ona plate of thin metal arched or bowed longitudinally and transverselyand of a size to just fit within the recess in such arched or bowedcondition, and then fitting the plate within the recess and flatteningit by pressure thereon causing its edges to expand and force their wayinto the walls of the recess.

In testimony whereof, I afiix mysignature.

EDGAR M. SORENG.

